Last night marked the official kickoff of the 2025 Hockey Draft Beer League (HDBL) — a fresh spin to the typical Beer League format that had run for years in a more traditional form. This adds a third active league to the zone, with RSHL already underway and MSHL starting up soon.
Built off the proven success of SVS’s draft format and adapted for our own zone by Cyris, the league is all about shaking up traditional team lines and fostering a mix of skill levels across the board. The goal? To have players interact with other players that they normally wouldn’t play with. This adds a level of excitement and unpredictability to games, and makes for a fun dynamic between teams.
HDBL’s core is about opportunity. Players get a chance to play with other pilots of varying skill levels, newbies get to learn alongside veterans, and captains are encouraged to mix things up with their line-ups (and play their subs). It’s supposed to be a fun experience for everyone involved (while still being somewhat competitive). Over 100 people signed up to the draft, which marks it as a successful kickoff in my book. Advertising it on Discord and on the front page of RSHL.org no doubt helped with this endeavor. You can read the rules of the draft on this Google Drive link.
Draft Night Rundown
The stream began at 9PM EST, with Cyris going live on Discord and sharing his screen. He was joined by a rotating crew of commentators: Werewolf, Flew, Bacon, and Navi — all of whom helped keep the mood light and entertaining throughout the night.
Even before the official start, Round 0 had already stirred up some drama as captains had selected their co-captains:
- Jack chose Artos
- Creature picked Bopmem2
- Nameless King locked in Linix (a major goalie pick)
- Racka went with Zanaz
- Boogieman selected aiti
- RubberGlue partnered with Kara Thrace
- Gold selected CMDros
- Bogey teamed up with Verez
With these choices, major names like Kara and Linix (one of the most coveted goalies in the league) were already off the board, setting the stage for some interesting round one hijinks.
Boogieman’s pick of aiti, a rookie from MSHL with only 1067 minutes to his name, raised some eyebrows. What was his motive here? Was he looking to mentor the young pilot? Was he trying to game the system by partnering with a lower-rated player to increase his draft position? The chess move doesn’t seem to have landed as minutes later, Rubberglue would pick Kara Thrace, and Boogieman would be dismayed as that was going to be his next pick.
CMDros was paired with Gold, while Bogey teamed up with fellow Swamper teammate Verez. The pieces were set. The first draft pick would come down to a battle of who could be the first to acquire the few remaining top players that were rated at 9.0 or above.
The event took more than an hour but I think it got the job done without many issues.
Live Audience
The Discord stream saw over 20–25 viewers live, while Cyris also streamed it to YouTube, and Jalrix relayed it to Twitch using his now popular Twitch bot. The excitement was palpable in both the voice channels and the spec chat in-game as each pick was called out.
There was a brief scheduling hiccup — a Swampers vs. Misfits team scrim had been scheduled for 10pm, which clashed with the tail-end of the draft. But the show went on, with the teams deciding to play the game regardless of the draft still happening.
Cyris manually managed the draft sheet updates and round orders live on stream with a masterful display of Excel (or Google sheet) skills. He deserves major props for keeping everything organized and moving along nicely.
According to the man himself, most of it was inspired by SVS, as he has a lot of experience joining and playing in draft teams there. So far, it has already proven to create balanced teams and give players the chance to interact with new faces across our league. Based on how last night went, the 2025 Draft League is off to a promising start.
A well-earned thank you to:
- Cyris for hosting and creating the league
- Werewolf, Flew, Bacon, Navi for keeping the stream from being a bore
- Stevewhitmer & the Board of Directors for greenlighting the league
- Big E and Werewolf for logistics and support
Here is the final draft picks for reference:
📊 View the Final Draft Sheet:
📺 Watch the Draft Stream (Recorded):
Watch it on Twitch vod here: https://www.twitch.tv/videos/2505668883
Good luck to everyone who got drafted!
Let’s make this draft season a good one.